Diablo 3 Walkthrough

Click your way to Azmodan. Our Diablo 3 walkthrough will teach you the secrets of the classes, acts, and new allies.

Class Overview

On the surface the classes of Diablo 3 may seem like facsimiles of their Diablo 2 predecessors. On closer examination each class' core mechanics have be revamped and streamlined for linear progression. Note: this information is based on the Diablo 3 beta and may change drastically with future patches.

Attributes

In Diablo 3 attributes are automatically granted to each class upon leveling up. The only means of customizing attributes is through equipment and some passive skills. There are four attributes in Diablo 3: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality. Because attributes cannot be freely customized, equipment in Diablo 3 do not have strength or dexterity requirements.

Strength boosts base armor, granting damage reduction when hit; strength also gives more attack power to Barbarians. Dexterity allows a character a higher chance to dodge attacks and boosts the damage of both Demon Hunters and Monks. Intelligence enhances the use of health globes, boosts resistances to elements and improves the skills of Witch Doctors and Wizards. Last, Vitality boosts the hit points of each character.

Resource

All five classes in Diablo 3 use a different resource type to unleash their active skills. Witch Doctors are the only class that still use slow recovering Mana from Diablo 2. Monks have Spirit that also regenerates slowly, but can be filled faster with certain skills and combos. Wizards on the other hand have the ultra quick recovering Arcane Power, and several of their skills do not cost resource.

Barbarians use Fury, which is generated via certain skills and spent with others. However, Fury depletes when out of combat. Demon Hunters use dual resources: quick recovering Hatred for attacks and slow regenerating Discipline for defensive moves.

Active Skills

Active skills are the main abilities of all five classes. They are unlocked through linear progression as a class levels up. Classes gain active skills from level 1 through 30. All five classes have three basic skill types: Primary which either generate resource or spend very little, Secondary which cost large amounts of resource and/or have cooldowns, and Defensive which help to avoid damage. Each class also has three more unique skill types to help differentiate them.

Active skill slots are unlocked at levels 1, 2, 4, 9, 14, and 19. By default each of these six slots is reserved for a specific skill type. However, selecting "Elective Mode" within the game's options will allow you to allocate any skill type into each slot.

Rune Skills

Rune skills are means of customizing each active skill. Each active skill has five runes which are unlocked through leveling up. Rune skills are gained from levels 6 through 60. A rune might change an active skill by granting more damage, less resource cost, increasing range, hitting multiple targets, cripple enemies, or more.

Each of the five runes is not a straight upgrade from the last, and some runes even have drawbacks to offset their power. The right rune for a skill is situational and often a matter of personal taste. A rune gained in the teens might be more effective than one granted in the 50s. It all depends on your build and style.

Passive Skills

Passive skills are traits that are always in effect. A passive skill may bolster or change the effect of attributes, grant extra resources, or alter the properties of active skills. Passive skills are unlocked as a class levels up from 10 through the mid 50s, or even to 60.

Passive skill slots are unlocked at levels 10, 20, and 30.

Barbarian

Barbarians are the only returning class from Diablo 2. They are powerful close range fighters that attacks with melee weapons and withstand large amounts of punishment. A Barbarian hits hard with brutal attacks and gains shouts to buff their team.

The Barbarian's resource is fury. Many attacks generate fury, while others cost fury to use. When out of combat fury will drain quickly, requiring you to begin each fight with primary and defensive skills. The Barbarian skill types are primary, secondary, defensive, might, tactics, and rage. They have 22 active skills and and 16 passive skills.

Barbarians can equip mighty belts and weapons which offer more protection and attack power than items of a similar level.

Level 15 Skills

Bash

Unlocked at Level 1

Primary

Generate: 6 Fury per attack

Brutally smash an enemy for 150% weapon damage with a 20% chance to Knockback.

Rune Skills

Clobber

Unlocked at Level 6

Instead of Knockback, each hit has a 35% chance to Stun the target for 1.5 seconds.

Ruthless

Frenzy

Swing for 110% weapon damage. Frenzy attack speed increases by 15% with each swing. This effect can stack up to 5 times for a total bonus of 75% attack speed.

Seismic Slam

Unlocked at Level 12

Secondary

Cost: 30 Fury

Slam the ground and cause a wave of destruction that deals 155% weapon damage and Knockback to targets in a 45 yard arc.

Ancient Spear

Unlocked at Level 13

Might

Revenge has a 15% chance to become active each time you are hit.

Inflict 220% weapon damage to all nearby enemies. You heal 5.0% of your maximum Life for each enemy hit.

Nerves Of Steel

Unlocked at Level 13

Passive

Your Armor is increased by 100% of your Vitality.

Weapon Throw

Unlocked at Level 14

Tactics

Cost: 10 Fury

Hurl a throwing weapon at an enemy for 120% weapon damage and Slow the movement of the enemy by 60% for 2 seconds.

Demon Hunter

The Demon Hunter combines the ranged fighting style of the Amazon along with the use of traps favored by Assassins. They are experts at crippling enemies from afar and escaping heated melee encounters. They have use of some limited dark magic to conceal themselves and further hinder their foes.

Demon Hunters use two resource types. Hatred is their main resource used for mainly attacking. While most attacks cost hatred, some will regenerate the resource. Hatred will also restore quickly on its own. The second resource is discipline, which is used for more defensive skills. It regenerates slower than hatred, requiring a wise amount of rationing. The Demon Hunter's skill types include primary, secondary, defensive, hunting, devices, and archery. They have 23 active skills and 15 passive skills.

Demon Hunters can equip light weight cloaks in place of body armor, granting them protection while not encumbering movement. Their unique weapon is the hand crossbow, which while weak can be dual wielded for rapid shots. Additionally, Demon Hunters can use quivers for added attack speed and magical effects.

Level 15 Skills

Hungering Arrow

Unlocked at Level 1

Primary

Generate: 3 Hatred per attack

Fire a magically imbued arrow that seeks out targets for 115% weapon damage and has a 35% chance to pierce through targets.

Rune Skills

Puncturing Arrow

Unlocked at Level 6

Increase the chance for the arrow to pierce to 50%.

Impale

Unlocked at Level 2

Secondary

Cost: 25 Hatred

Impale a target for 250% weapon damage.

Rune Skills

Impact

Unlocked at Level 7

Impale has a 65% chance to knock the target back and Stun it for 1.5 seconds.

Chemical Burn

Unlocked at Level 15

Your target will also Bleed for 125% weapon damage as Physical over 2 seconds.

Entangling Shot

Unlocked at Level 3

Primary

Generate: 3 Hatred per attack

Imbue an arrow with shadow energy that deals 75% weapon damage and entangles up to 2 enemies, slowing their movement by 60% for 2 seconds.

Rune Skills

Chain Gang

Unlocked at Level 9

Hit up to 4 targets.

Caltrops

Unlocked at Level 4

Defensive

Cost: 6 Discipline

Lay a trap of caltrops on the ground that activates when an enemy approaches. Once sprung, the caltrops Slow the movement of enemies within 12 yards by 60%. This trap lasts 6 seconds.

Thrill of the Hunt

Bola Shot

Unlocked at Level 11

Primary

Generate: 3 Hatred per attack

Shoot out an explosive bola that wraps itself around its target. After 1 second, the bola explodes dealing 130% weapon damage as Fire to the target and an additional 110% weapon damage as Fire to all other targets within 7 yards.

Rune Skills

Volatile Explosives

Unlocked at Level 14

Increase the explosion radius to 14 yards.

Chakram

Unlocked at Level 12

Secondary

Cost: 10 Hatred

Fire a swirling Chakram that does 150% weapon damage as Physical to enemies along its path.

Preparation

Unlocked at Level 13

Hunting

Cooldown: 45 seconds

Instantly restore all Discipline.

Vengeance

Unlocked at Level 13

Passive

Your maximum Hatred is increased by 25. In addition, gain 20 Hatred and 2 Discipline whenever you are healed by a health globe

Evasive Fire

Unlocked at Level 14

Devices

Generate: 4 Hatred. Cost: 4 Discipline if you backflip

Shoot for 125% weapon damage. If an enemy is in front of you at close range, you will also backflip away 15 yards.

Grenades

Unlocked at Level 15

Primary

Generate: 3 Hatred

Throw out three grenades that explode for 95% weapon damage as Fire each.

Monk

The Monk uses martial arts like an Assassin and has mantras to support parties similar to a Paladin. They attack with spirit energy and move swiftly during battle.

The Monk's resource is spirit. Spirit can be restored by use of various skills and by comboing together attacks. Their skill types are primary, secondary, defensive, techniques, focus, and mantras. They have 21 active skills and and 14 passive skills.

Monks can equip special head armor called spirit stones. Their special weapons include rapid hitting fist weapons and the sweeping daibo staves.

Level 15 Skills

Fists of Thunder

Unlocked at Level 1

Primary

Generate: 6 Spirit per attack

Unleash a series of extremely fast punches that deal 110% weapon damage as Lightning. Every third hit deals damage to all enemies in front of you and knocks them back a short distance. Generates Spirit faster than other Spirit-generating skills due to the high attack speed.

Rune Skills

Thunderclap

Unlocked at Level 6

Teleport to the target and release an electric shockwave with every punch that hits all enemies within 6 yards of your primary target for 35% weapon damage as Lightning.

Lashing Tail Kick

Release a torrent of fire that burns nearby enemies for 220% weapon damage as Fire and causes Knockback.

Sweeping Armada

Unlocked at Level 15

Increases Knockback distance by 150% and slows the movement speed of struck enemies by 60% for 2 seconds.

Deadly Reach

Unlocked at Level 3

Primary

Generate: 6 Spirit per attack

Project lines of pure force over a short distance for 110% weapon damage. Every third hit extends 25 yards.

Rune Skills

Piercing Trident

Unlocked at Level 9

Increases the area of effect of the second and third strikes.

Blinding Flash

Unlocked at Level 4

Defensive

Cost: 10 Spirit

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Create a flash of light that blinds all enemies within 20 yards for 3 seconds. Elite enemies recover faster, but suffer a 30% chance to miss with attacks.

Rune Skills

Self Reflection

Unlocked at Level 12

Increases the duration enemies are blinded to 4 seconds.

Tempest Rush

Unlocked at Level 5

Secondary

Cost: 15 Spirit plus an additional 10 Spirit while channeling

Charge directly through your enemies, knocking them back and hobbling them, slowing their movement by 60% for 2 seconds. Also deals 50% weapon damage while running.

Rune Skills

Northern Breeze

Unlocked at Level 11

Reduces the channeling cost of Tempest Rush to 8 Spirit.

Breath of Heaven

Unlocked at Level 8

Defensive

Cost: 25 Spirit

Cooldown: 15 seconds

A blast of divine energy heals you and all allies within 12 yards for 6202 - 7442 Life.

Rune Skills

Circle of Scorn

Unlocked at Level 14

Breath of Heaven also sears enemies for 80% weapon damage as Holy.

Dashing Strike

Unlocked at Level 9

Techniques

Cost: 25 Spirit

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Quickly dash at the targeted enemy or location, striking for 100% weapon damage and rooting the target for 1 second.

Rune Skills

Way of the Falling Star

Unlocked at Level 15

After striking an enemy, your movement speed is increased 25% for 3 seconds.

Fleet Footed

Unlocked at Level 10

Passive

Increases movement speed by 10%.

Resolve

Unlocked at Level 10

Passive

Damage you deal reduces enemy damage by 25% for 2.5 seconds.

Crippling Wave

Unlocked at Level 11

Primary

Generate: 6 Spirit per attack

Unleash a series of large sweeping attacks that cause 110% weapon damage to all enemies in front of you. Every third hit damages all enemies around you and dazes them, slowing their movement speed by 30% and attack speed by 20% for 3 seconds.

Wave of Light

Unlocked at Level 12

Secondary

Cost: 75 Spirit

Focuses a wave of light that crushes enemies for 215% weapon damage as Holy, followed by an additional 45% weapon damage as Holy to all enemies in a line.

Exploding Palm

Unlocked at Level 13

Techniques

Cost: 40 Spirit

Cause a target to Bleed for 220% weapon damage as Physical over 3 seconds. If the target dies while bleeding, it explodes and deals 30% of the target's maximum Life as Physical damage to all nearby enemies.

Exalted Soul

Unlocked at Level 13

Passive

Increases maximum Spirit by 100.

Cyclone Strike

Unlocked at Level 14

Focus

Cost: 50 Spirit

Pull all enemies within 24 yards towards you, followed by a furious blast of energy that deals 100% weapon damage as Holy.

Way of the Hundred Fists

Unlocked at Level 15

Primary

Generate: 6 Spirit per attack

Unleash a rapid series of punches that strikes enemies for 140% weapon damage.

Witch Doctor

Witch Doctors play similar to Necromancers from Diablo 2. They mainly use pets in the form of creatures and undead, though in small groups rather than as a massive army. Witch Doctors have access to enfeebling curses, direct attack spells, and damage over time. Their overall role is crowd control by crippling enemy targets and directing aggression towards their pets.

Witch Doctors use the classic resource of mana. Mana recovers slowly and there are very few skills that will regenerate this resource. The best option is to summon minions and cast curses before waiting for mana to return. The Witch Doctor's skill types are primary, secondary, defensive, terror, decay, and voodoo. They have 22 active skills and 15 passive skills.

Their special armor type is voodoo mask headgear. Witch Doctors may wield ceremonial knives in their main hand and mojos in their off-hand. This combination can provide swift attacks and powerful boons to magic.

Level 15 Skills

Poison Dart

Unlocked at Level 1

Primary

Cost: 10 Mana

Shoot a deadly Poison Dart that deals 100% weapon damage as Poison and an additional 40% weapon damage as Poison over 2 seconds.

Rune Skills

Splinters

Unlocked at Level 6

Shoot 3 Poison Darts that deal 60% weapon damage as Poison each.

Numbing Dart

Unlocked at Level 13

Toxins in the Poison Dart reduce the target's movement speed by 60% for 2 seconds.

Grasp of the Dead

Unlocked at Level 2

Secondary

Cost: 122 Mana

Cooldown: 8 seconds

Ghoulish hands reach out from the ground, slowing enemy movement by 60% and dealing 20% weapon damage as Physical for 8 seconds.

Rune Skills

Unbreakable Grasp

Unlocked at Level 7

Increases the Slow amount to 80%.

Groping Eels

Unlocked at Level 15

Increases the damage done to 26% weapon damage as Physical.

Corpse Spiders

Unlocked at Level 3

Primary

Cost: 5 Mana

Throw a jar with 4 spiders that attack nearby enemies for 16% weapon damage as Physical before dying.

Rune Skills

Leaping Spiders

Unlocked at Level 9

Summon jumping spiders that leap up to 25 yards to reach their target and attack for 19% weapon damage as Physical.

Summon Zombie Dogs

Unlocked at Level 4

Defensive

Cost: 49 Mana

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Summon 3 Zombie Dogs from the depths to fight by your side. Each dog deals 9% of your weapon damage as Physical per hit.

Spiritual Attunement

Zombie Charger

Call forth a reckless, suicidal zombie that deals 205% weapon damage as Poison to all enemies in its path before decomposing.

Wizard

Wizards are the new Sorceresses of Diablo 3. They harness the power of fire, ice, lightning and arcane. These spells take the form of large area of effect attacks or personal shielding.

Their resource is arcane power. Arcane power is similar to mana, but instead regenerates quickly. A Wizard's most basic signature spells do not deplete arcane power. Their skill types are primary, secondary, defensive, force, conjuration, and mastery. They have 25 active skills and 15 passive skills.

Wizards can equip special wizard hats into their head slot. They can also wield wands that not only boost their skills, but act as a ranged weapon. Finally, Wizards can hold orbs in their off hand for even more bonuses to magic.

Electrocute

Tales of Torment: Monk'in Around

By Kurtis Seid, 5/18/2012

Diablo III has been out for four days now, though that's questionable from the amount of server crashes and login queues. I've been sampling all of the classes, but settled on the Monk as my main character. He’s hard to kill, buffs and protects the party, and I can't pass up a chance to write about Tony Shalhoub. It is in fact a jungle out there.

I've steadily made it into act 3 at level 25. Now, I'm sure the die hard Diablo fanatics will be raising their hamfists towards the heavens and proclaiming "I got to Inferno day of release. Stop being bad at games, GameSpot". Due to other obligations and a need for luxuries such as sleep, I'd say my progression is adequate. Though I'm certainty not above plowing through levels, cumulating in keeling over dead in a Korean internet cafe, covered in Cheeto stains.

The term "walkthrough" is a little misplaced here. In fact it's an outright lie. This is more a journal of my adventures as a Monk, with tidbits of strategy regarding my own playstyle. You'll unlikely find useful information here if you want to know about Witch Doctors and Wizards. I also fundamentally play multiplayer with three other people if possible. The always on DRM is small proof that Blizzard doesn't want to you to be antisocial. In turn, this means I don't know much about using the three followers. Being a hypochondriac would make me likely to pick the healing Templar, even when paired with the already sturdy Monk.

Because I play with other people my skills aren't designed for pure soloing or amazing damage. Instead, I've come to mostly rely of protective skills, healing, and area of effect attacks. My build is based around two passive: Transcendence and Chant of Resonance. The first passive heals me every time I spend spirit (with my current level and skills it heals 6.8 life per every spirit spent). The second passive restores my spirit while a mantra is in use.

Now let's talk about my active skills and runes. First, I selected elective mode from the options menu. I quickly dismissed almost all of the Monk's secondary skills and found myself wanting to use several techniques and/or focuses at once. Because my character is about heavy spirit use, I'd need at least a primary to generate my resources.

I seem to change primaries with every new rune I get. For the most part I've settled on Way of the Hundred Fists and the Hands of Lightning rune. The damage is adequate and the spirit generate is suitable. Another nice skill I sometimes switch to is Crippling Wave with Mangle, mostly to hamper groups of enemies.

Via elective mode I've replaced my right mouse button with Dashing Strike and the Way of the Falling Star rune. This allows me to quickly close the distance with the enemy and give myself a quick speed bonus. The Flying Side Kick rune didn't seem like it would help much against most groups. Now for my main action bar attack I picked Cyclone Strike with Implosion. This hits many enemies at once for a fair amount of damage. It's true power comes from the fact that it has no cooldown and it's 50 spirit cost means that it heals me for 340 life.

The rest of my skills are defensive in nature. For my Mantra I'm using Mantra of Evasion with the Hard Target rune. I've coupled this with Mystic Ally (which doesn't have a rune until level 27) and a panic button in the form of Serenity with Peaceful Repose. All in all I'm a tough cookie to kill and can offer some handy crowd control and support to my team.

Now the biggest problem comes from damage output. I can take out bosses and champions from pure attrition. However, any enemy that flees away can be a problem, mainly those shadowy thieves that wandered out of Golden Axe. It could be from lackluster equipment. I've switched from dual wielding to a powerful daibo, but I can't say I care for the slower attack speed. So far I've only be using the magic and rare items I've found on my own.

Despite always being online I've yet to purchase any of the overpriced items on the auction house, though I've done my fair share of selling. Much like those illusive thieves, I've been hording gold for mostly myself while Haedrig remains a mere level three smith. I've trained Covetous as far as I can with pure gold, but now Lo Pan is requesting pages to advance further. Setting a perfect ruby into a weapon looks like it will add in great damage.

At present my gear isn't anything to write home about. I'm debating on trying a few Belial runs for possible drops, or just continuing on with the main story. For now, Fred Kwan will be waiting at the digital conveyer.

Tales of Torment: Demon Hunting, Vol. II

By Peter Brown, 5/18/2012

At this point my Demon Hunter, Tetsuo, is at level 42 in the very beginning of Act II on Nightmare difficulty. I was level 32 when I defeated Diablo, and it took about eight tries to get it right. The first six were at 4 AM and not what I would call elegant or focused, so I had to postpone subsequent attempts until the morning. When the sun rose (mere hours later) I was wide eyed and ready to demolish the Prime Evil. At level 32, with equipment sourced from Normal mode (no auction house goods), I managed to defeat Diablo. It wasn't what I would call easy, but this is the formula that worked for me:

It's pretty similar to my loadout in last week's entry. I changed the rune for Entangling Shot to Shock Collar, since I only need to inflict damage and recharge hatred, rather than entangle multiple enemies. Caltrops is now augmented by the Jagged Spikes rune that causes 45% weapon damage per second to an enemy within the Caltrops ring. This will also help recharge health with the well timed triggering of Shadow Power with the Blood Moon rune. I also subbed the Chakram secondary attack on the "4" quick-slot for Preparation with the Punishment rune. When activated, Preparation will completely recharge my hatred at the cost of discipline rather than a cooldown.

My passive skill slots grew by one so I made a few more changes. Vengeance boosts my Hatred by 25 as well as recharges both Hatred and Discipline when I pick up health globes. Cull the Weak causes 15% additional damage to slowed enemies, which goes well with the Rapid Fire rune that inflicts slow, Web Shot. Lastly, the addition of steady Aim boosts my damage output by 20% as long as there are no enemies within 10 yards.

All in all, my loadout this time works well because it incorporates traits from numerous skills, boosting damage and recharging resources in a particularly efficient manner. It all takes an amount of juggling to properly take advantage of these connections. A typical skill trail plays out like so:

Maintaining this order complicates the fight a bit, but at least I was able to defeat Diablo this time around and honestly, who doesn't like a challenge? Babies, I'm assuming.

While I don't have footage of this fight, I would like to start the transition to discussing Nightmare difficulty with a clip of my level 40 DH taking on Diablo on Normal to illustrate how quickly the difficulty and loot scales once you upgrade to Nightmare.

If you paid attention, you might notice that once I entered the arena with Diablo I didn't move an inch. I also relied solely on Shadow Power and Chakrams. In otherwords, this was a fight that was too easy. You'll also notice the loot is rather underwhelming.

Now let's fast forward into Nightmare Act II and illustrate how the difficulty and rewards scale between modes. First, allow me to show you my character's current build:

And here are details on a few of the items I'm using.

As you can see, I'm favorable towards items with Dexterity and Vitality boosts. Apart from health, which all classes need, Dexterity is the damage multiplier for the Demon Hunter.

As I work my way through Nightmare, I go back and forth between favoring health and damage output. Of course, when facing a rare Vampiric Plague beast, it makes no difference what I favor, I just lose. Those two stats are the worst to have stacked against you because not only is your health being leeched as the enemy damages you, but there is more damage than usual due to the poisoning (plaguing?), so I'm losing health rapidly, and my foe is regaining his health faster than I can damage him. Yeesh!

So far, Nightmare difficulty is more challenging and rewarding than Normal, which makes me sound like Captain Obvious, but I'm continually grateful for this reality. Nightmare feels like proper Diablo (Diablo II, really). I would advise anyone playing on Normal to ignore the optional dungeons and uncovering every rock. Get through Normal as quickly as possible and save the loot hunt for Nightmare. You'll thank me later.

Tales of Torment: Demon Hunting, Vol. I

By Peter Brown, 5/18/2012

I've been playing as the Demon Hunter for the better part of this week and so far, I'm happy with my first choice. I'm currently level 26 at the beginning of Act III and most of my gaming sessions have been solo affairs. Superficially, the Demon Hunters strengths lie in their ranged-DPS and evasion capabilities, but there are some nuanced abilities that prove to be equally useful depending on the scenario.

One thing's for sure: If you stand still for too long, you are asking to get trampled, especially now that potions require a 30 second cooldown between uses. Compared to Diablo II, this has drastically changed health management. The Demon Hunter does possess some skills that restore health, but using them often means putting more iconic (and useful) skills on the sidelines.

Skill Loadout

A lot of these skills are earned early on, but they've proven their worth time and time again. Here's an example of how combat tends to play out with this loadout:

Entangle > Caltrops > Vault > Shadow Power > Rapid Fire or Chakram

Entangle allows me to slow my enemies, Caltrops traps them in place, Shadow Power enables reduced hatred cost and health-leeching, and Rapid Fire and/or Chakram takes care of dealing damage. The choice between the two comes down to the number of enemies I'm facing. Chakram is superior to Rapid Fire for larger groups, although starting with Rapid Fire enhanced by the Web Shot rune is effective at slowing enemies before unleashing your Chakrams.

If you find yourself constantly running out of hatred, a good tactic is to escape the fray, enable Shadow Power, and use the Entangle skill. Both of those skills will replenish your Hatred in no time, allowing you to continue dishing out the pain.

The biggest hangup with this loadout is the reliance on the Entangling Shot and Caltrops. If not executed properly, you'll end up wasting a lot of discipline without slowing down the advancing demon hordes. On the other hand, when you properly entangle and trap your foes, you're in the clear. Shadow Power will keep your Hatred and health in check, two things a Demon Hunter can run out of rather quickly.

Stats and Equipment

When using the Demon Hunter you want to maximize three stats: Dexterity, Vitality, and Armor. Vitality and Armor are your health and defense stats, respectively. Dexterity controls your damage output as well as your ability to dodge attacks.

A great way to increase these stats is through the use of gems and magic or rare items, with the proper modifiers of course. The suffixes you want to look for in magic/rare items are Hawk (Dexterity bonus) and Bear(Vitality bonus). When collecting and refining gems, Emeralds and Rubies are the two types you should focus on.

Here are the three most useful items I have equipped at the moment:

And a shot of my stats/inventory:

Last but not least, here's a glimpse of my Demon Hunter in action against a minor boss in Act III, Gohm.

For those wondering if this game is good there is a free "starter" edition for download on blizzards website that goes through half of the first act. It lets you try all 5 classes and get a good feel for the game. Give it a download.

i havent bought this game and i really want to but im looking for some honest reviews out there...first off...a rating out of 10...in terms of graphics...game play..story...and any negative comments as well...this game cant be perfect..im sure there are some bad things to say. also..in comparison to D2..whats the difference and which is better? pls advise

I am still waiting for the review of this game. Probably each portal is afraid to give a fair review of the game that everyone buys, but is worth not more than 5-6/10. No wonder they postponed the date of premiere being afraid of Dark Souls which is few times better. How is it possible to make such a lousy product for such a long time.

The difficulty is lacking? What the hell are you talking about? Normal is obviously easy. Nightmare can produce a few challenging mobs here and there and you will likely die. With that said, very beatable.

But once you get to Hell, the difficulty significantly ramps up. And then inferno? Jesus...

Difficulty on inferno is quite high. People that watched live streams can confirm that (boss mobs one shotting barbs and monks with over 50k health anyone? ;D). My major gripe comes more from the game length ... it should be way longer ;)

I've played about 6 hours so far, and this is coming from a guy who has CRAPPY wireless broadband, I love this game. I've only had a few lag times and that was when we had a storm blowing in. The graphics are fantastic, the story is pretty good and the gameplay is exactly what I expected. I swore I would never spend $60 on a game again, but I am glad I did~

D3 needs a real summoner, I was very dissapointed with the WD's summons, I hope that maybe in the expansion (if it get's one) they will bring back the necromancer, and the lack of skill trees makes leveling pretty boring ... I hope 20 years from now in D4 they will bring it back.

I almost didn't buy this game, but damn I am sure glad I did. It is fast paced, intense, and surprisingly difficult! I've died so many times already, but it is much better than face rolling crap into oblivion which is what I first expected of this game. I hope to allah that people dont cry about the difficulty. It's perfect if you ask me and we dont need another watered down game because scrubs can't handle a challenge.

To the haters and naysayers, I just dont understand what you are looking for in gaming. This is as fun as it gets, especially playing multiplayer.

They say that in 30 years, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed human will be endangered. If PC gaming continues this way, there's another self-declared "master race" that's going to go extinct around the same time. ;)

@adamms1384 Pfft, wait until you get to the heavens, that's when it gets REALLY hard, I'm stuck on this boss...I forget his name, but he was Tyrael's first lieutenant at one time before he became corrupted, that boss is pretty frickin' hard.

@remiaw give it a bit. There's a lot of content, and it's only been playable for 3 days. And no, reviewers did not have advance access. I wouldn't expect a review until at least a week after release day. And I wouldn't trust one that came any sooner.

@rommy25 Let's say that Diablo seems to benefit from the opposite of the "Final Fantasy Syndrome". Since they are FF games they get crappy reviews, while if they were called something else they would probably get in average a point more. And their technical execution is simply perfect. Diablo 3, just because it is Diablo, is getting all over around 9/10, when the game is plagued with issues and doesn't look so exciting either (yes, I am talking about the in-game graphics).

@Naylord Indeed. I found normal to be just a little challenging at some points, but completely doable, even without multiplayer. I beat Diablo on my first try, solo. Now I'm on Nightmare... just the jump in difficulty there is staggering. After buying a few sweet things in the auction house, my lvl 34 barb has almost 4000 health, and I can totally crush diablo on normal, no problem. On nightmare, if I miss one strategic use a stun move, a swarm of like 4 or 5 scavengers will kill me in 3 seconds flat.

@rommy25 Or "doesn't look so exciting" as literally the look of it is pretty old and not much elaborated? And plagued with issues as in people couldn't (still can't?) play it continuously because of the online DRM in the single player game? All the issues the user reviews are reporting in Metacritic. Still, because it is Blizzard, all "professional" reviewers are giving out 9/10 as if it was raining. Probably they are afraid of losing their jobs, as it happened already to a reviewer here in Gamespot, Jeff Gerstmann.

@slainta "doesn't look so exciting" as in you haven't played it? If not then you obviously don't have the ethos to judge the title. You say it's "plagued" with issues yet only use the graphics as a point of attack. The graphics are fine and in no way affect the game-play or user experiences with the game.

Okay... I don't understand this as being an issue. Maybe I don't understand where your coming from but when I buy a game NOW I want to play it at this instance of time I don't care about 'someday'. Based on the popularity of this game I don't see the servers going down for quite some time.

@illegalChronic Because???... I've only experienced lag and dc issues on the first day you have made no valid arguments about the core game-play whatsoever. You've basically brought nothing new to this issue and have not articulated any valid point to justifiably judge this game biased on it's, previously announced, DRM issues